Work in prgress concerns the following areas of investigation: a) Comparisons of ionic and macromolecular components of ribosomes from spores and vegetative cells of Bacillus Cereus T. b) Comparison of in vitro protein synthesis by spore and vegetative ribosomes. c) Isolation and characterization of spore messenger RNA and protein synthesized on spore mRNA template. The investigations should clarify the nature of apparent defects in dormant spore ribosomes and the nature of dormant spore mRNA.